Local schools give gum the boot

A NATIONWIDE schools’ campaign to raise student awareness of littering is being supported by St Michael’s Community College, Kilmihil and Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna.

The Gum Litter Taskforce team visited both schools recently to deliver the Bin It! message. It features an actor-led workshop visiting secondary schools across the participating local authority areas. The workshop is geared towards first year students and explores littering and social responsibility. This is the 11th year the ‘Bin it!’ campaign has toured Ireland and to date over 45,242 students have taken part, with 6,024 attending one of the 63 workshops that ran in 2016 alone.

Chairman of the GLT, Paul Kelly said, “The overall aim of the Gum Litter Taskforce campaign has always been to exact a behaviour change amongst the proportion of the public that dispose of chewing gum incorrectly. The Bin It! tour has proven to be an extremely effective, fun and interactive means of getting the important GLT gum disposal message to younger audiences. We’re seeing its effectiveness reflected not only in the attitudes and awareness research results but also in the increasing number of participants in the tour workshops.”